Sinha said unnecessary hype has been created over the cash crunch despite finance secretary and RBI saying there is no cash crunch in 80 per cent of the ATMs.

File photo of Manoj Sinha. (Image: News18)

Loading...

New Delhi: Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha on Thursday said that there is enough cash available in the country and the hype around currency shortage has been created to mislead the nation.

"I feel that it is unnecessary hype which has been created. Finance Secretary and RBI have said that there is no cash crunch in 80 per cent of the ATMs and there is enough cash available in RBI chest also. It is a political conspiracy to mislead nation. People should remain cautious from such conspiracies," Sinha said in response to query on cash crunch in the country.

He was speaking to reporters on sidelines of inaugurating Parcel Directorate under Department of Posts here. He alleged that an artificial demand was created to create the hype around cash crunch.

Postal Secretary A N Nanda said there are 992 ATMs of India Post and there has not been any issue with them. Talking about Postal Directorate, Sinha said that the new department will focus on parcel business which is growing at a rate of 15 per cent annually.

According to industry estimate shared by Department of Posts, the parcel market in the country is expected to grow to Rs 60,000 crore by 2026 from around Rs 18,000 crore at present.

"We have very small share at present. We will be able to talk about significant share of Department of Posts in parcel market in a year," Sinha said.

A DoP official said that parcel business contributed in the range of Rs 500-600 crore in last fiscal and this year the Department is targeting to get revenue contribution of around Rs 1,000 crore from the parcel segment.

Nanda said that Parcel Directorate will focus on enhancing experience of customers, customise offerings of India Post to suit parcel business and increase presence in segment where DoP has been unable to gain high share.